Thanks to Jonathan once again for alerting me to some clips from the 1957 movie, A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith in a role so diametrically opposed to his later persona as Sheriff Andy Taylor that he seems positively demonic at times. That the director, Elia Kazan, was able to draw the link between television stardom and political power is a testament to his prescience.
I think you will agree that the film eerily echoes the future rise of Donald Trump. Hopefully, a similar downfall ensues.
I fear that Trump has more staying power, even in defeat, than we imagine. Released from the task of trying to win an election, he could play insurgent to a Democratic administration and the other factions of his own party which should appeal to his malevolent instincts.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly enough, I just got an email from Jonathan that reads as follows:
DeleteThe media is beginning to pick up on stories that the NRA is going to send members to patrol polling stations for any suspicious behaviour. Having a rifle slung on the shoulder is legal in most states. Intimidating voters is so up their alley. In 2000 Al Gore lost by 500 votes in Florida and graciously conceded. These Trump followers I am willing to bet will behave like caged animals when they lose. Especially as he is whipping things up in a colossal lying storm.
It seems your prediction could have a real possibility of being realized, Mound.
"The people love Lonesome Rhodes. Lonesome Rhodes is the people. The people is Lonesome Rhodes."
ReplyDeleteWith a heartfelt loving shout-out to the poorly educated, no doubt.
We've been seeing shades of Lonesome Rhodes ever since Limbaugh appeared on the scene. I first became aware of that particular dreck peddler through his late night TV show around the time that Bill Clinton was first elected. Ridicule and demonization of Hillary was the mainstay of these broadcasts. He would mention her name in the context of any rant, the band would start to play "Hail to the Chief" and the studio audience would shriek and howl in delight. Limbaugh would refer to her using an offensive nickname that I've since forgotten. When I first saw that show I called up my father and told him tune in to Channel 4 to see a guy doing a take on the Lonesome Rhodes shtick. "A Face in the Crowd" had been a family favourite in our house. I didn't realize that it wasn't a comedy act until I'd watched it for at least three or four days. Later, I heard that Rush had conceived of the act as comedy but, upon realizing there was an audience that would take it seriously, decided to run with it.
The nightmare of it is that while his fictitious audience turned on Lonesome Rhodes when he was exposed, the real one that Limbaugh, Coulter, Beck, Gingrich, Trump et al have cultivated isn't as smart. Truth is always scarier than fiction.
While it is not nice to make invidious observations about Trump supporters, John, it is hard to resist the conclusion that they are reflexive rather than reflective, the kind of people who are the backbone of fascists everywhere. It would seem that no amount of evidence and no amount of reason can shake their blind faith in their man. If I were a more blunt person, I would call them manifestly, collectively stupid. To explain them merely as those disaffected by conventional politics, as some have, is being too kind, in my view.
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